r/entertainment • u/timothyjay64 • 6h ago
‘Digger’ Drops Out Of Box Office Top 10 As Theater Count Plunges 76%
https://www.forbes.com/sites/timlammers/2026/10/17/digger-drops-out-of-box-office-top-10-as-theater-count-plunges-76/17
u/inksmudgedhands 4h ago edited 4h ago
This Fall hasn't been exactly kind to movies in general. September has come and gone and we are already half way through October. And during this time, only one movie thus far has made over a $150 million and that's Resident Evil. Only one. No matter the star power behind the movie.
You can point to Cruise and saying that he's no longer the box office draw. But Anne Hathaway's movie hasn't made over a $150 million. Neither has Brad Pitt's movie. Robert Pattinson's Primetime? It hasn't even made $50 million. People used to chomp at the bit to see an Aaron Sorkin plotted movie. Nope. The Social Reckoning bombed.
Now I am hoping that Wildwood will do well because Laika could use a hit. But all signs are pointing at not doing well. Clayface might do well not because it's a DC movie but because it's a horror movie. Horror movies are the "in" trend for the past couple of years. And we are in Halloween season. People might check it out for the screams.
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u/Rigb0n3710 4h ago
People still do not understand how much streaming has impacted the theatrical market. Only certain types of movies do well in theatres now. That's just the way it is. Sometimes there is a pleasant surprise but thats going to be rare. Movies like Primetime are successful streaming movies.
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u/AcceptablySoiled 5h ago
Peak Nathan Fielder had officially begun now he’s the male lead who just scored a bigger October opening weekend than Tom Cruise.
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u/izza123 5h ago
I’d watch Nathan Fielder every day but you couldn’t pay me to watch another Tom Cruise movie
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u/percypersimmon 38m ago
YCSE was the best theatrical experience I had this year, but Digger is probably number 2.
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u/Ze_XVI 3h ago
I still have no idea what the movie is about. All I know about it is that Tom Cruise is old, and playing an older looking person.
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u/Mrchristopherrr 2h ago
Exactly. The only marketing I saw for it as a passive observer was “tom cruise trying desperately to win an Oscar: the motion picture”
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u/darksideofthemoon131 46m ago
I saw it. I despise Tom Cruise but I watched the trailer and was intrigued. It was REALLY good. There was a twist that threw me off completely, but I enjoyed the overall theme of corporate greed and justifying shitty behavior for wealth and power. John Goodman stole the show for me.
Also, bonus to go see an afternoon movie and being the only person in there.
I think lack of advertising/promotion and a trailer that wasn't clear killed this movie. I dont get the 180 million dollar cost though. Maybe trying to launder money before the Paramount merger
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u/jogoso2014 6h ago
I couldn’t find a good time to see it.
Hopefully this means it’ll be on HBO in a month or so.
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u/Constant_Insomnia 5h ago
I planned on seeing it last night. I couldn’t find a showtime.
The art house theater nearby even dropped it.
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u/bludgeonerV 3h ago
My local had it running in the 40 seat kids theatre. Not sure if the big slide and rainbow colour theme was the best match..
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u/Anxious-Divide-1255 5h ago
when I went to see it, there were like 12 showtimes per day. A week later, I bought tickets to a different movie and wanted to checkout digger's times just out of curiosity. There were now 2 showings per day. Totally understandable though because when I went to see it, there were literally 6 people, total, in the movie theater.
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u/Only-For-Fun-No-Pol 3h ago
I couldn’t find a time playing out at all in a ten mile radius and those that were showing it further away have like one showing. Seems like Skydance decided to just cut their losses.
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u/NotCryptoKing 5h ago
If only one person in the marketing team wasn’t a complete dumbass. That’s all they needed. One single soul to say “maybe we should tell people what the movie is about”
Sometimes though. We ask for too much
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u/MrFlecker 3h ago
I think going in blind helps the experience tremendously. It’s just not a movie for everyone.
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u/Mrchristopherrr 2h ago
I’m sure it does, but it’s not going to convince people to go in at all
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u/MrFlecker 2h ago
To be honest, I can’t recommend it for many of the people I know because it’s just not their kind of movie.
My favorite movie of the year. Have not recommended it to most of my friends and family. It’s more for cinephiles.10
u/NotCryptoKing 3h ago
Yea if there’s hype behind it. Sure.
But a movie with Tom Cruise, that is incredibly Byzantine, to the point that nobody knows what it’s about? Not in 2026.
“Hey do you wanna go see digger?”
“What’s it about?”
“No one knows.”
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u/Hayterfan 1h ago
“Hey do you wanna go see digger?” “What’s it about?”
"I think it's a film adaptation of Dig Dug"
Billion dollar box office opening weekend.
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u/MrBrightside618 4h ago
People on here bitch constantly that trailers give away everything, and now when a movie holds its cards close to its chest then nobody sees it
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u/Efficient-Ad9019 2h ago
There is a space between showing too much and just showing old clips of the lead actor in other movies that they could have probably found to get more people interested in actually spending money to go see the movie.
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u/Only-For-Fun-No-Pol 3h ago
There was a lot they could bad talked about in the trailer without giving away the twist.
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u/buffalotrace 1h ago
If had been well received by critics, it might have done better. It didn’t. It has a reddit hive that has become insufferable.
It may very well have a second life when becomes available on streaming.
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u/OldManufacturer8679 3h ago
Was the trailer not enough for people to know what it’s about?
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u/CandidBoysenberry299 3h ago
No because I had no idea what it was about
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u/SnooLobsters6766 3h ago
Yes you did. There was trouble, Digger got them into it and Digger needs to get them out of it. Digger is TCs’ Magnum Opus!
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u/TrueSwagformyBois 6m ago
What is the movie about? I’ve not even seen spoiler free reviews yet. Interested, but also don’t really get it
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u/FennelReasonable8734 4h ago
I just saw an ad that revealed the rest of the cast for the first time today. I can’t believe they had such a stacked, talented cast and chose to literally only tell me Tom Cruise is in this movie.
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u/welsh_nutter 4h ago
People saving their money for doomsday and dune 3. Spiderman proved that people will spend in the theatre when it's a guaranteed fun experience
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u/Rigb0n3710 4h ago
I do not believe that's how American spending and saving habits work. No one is seeing this movie because no one knows what it is about, it's got poor word of mouth and there's been moderate to strong competition.
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u/Red_Danger33 3h ago
As niche of a market as it is, Street Fighter opening the weekend after didn’t help.
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u/Rigb0n3710 3h ago
I am torn on if street fighter is a theater movie or a streaming title.
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u/Red_Danger33 3h ago
I thought it was worth it in Theatres. It won’t be everyone’s cup of tea but if you’re a Street Fighter fan, you’ll probably enjoy it.
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u/StrengthGood3208 2h ago
I dont plan on watching it but out of curiosity does anyone beat up a car?
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u/Red_Danger33 2h ago
Yeah. It’s slightly longer than what you see in the trailer but that scene is in the movie.
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u/Hayterfan 1h ago
I saw Street Fighter in IMAX, and had a blast. Is it perfect, no. Is it dumb fun, yes.
Also the animated flashback scenes looked fucking amazing on such a large screen (and really makes me want another animated Street Fighter movie)
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u/RiseWasHereHS 9m ago
I saw it in theaters twice and it was awesome both times. You can absolutely enjoy it though from home once it goes to streaming. Either is good imo. If you see it at home I don’t think you’ll be missing out.
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u/Tibbaryllis2 8m ago
I think you really kind of just described all the issues that is killing this movie.
It was poorly marketed.
It has a niche audience.
It’s in between major releases.
I think this last one plays into those saving habits. We’re in the slow-ish lull between summer and winter major movie releases and the weather is halfway decent across most states. Theater tickets aren’t getting any cheaper, and people are spending money on other things.
It doesn’t surprise me people aren’t spending money on this movie. And it would surprise me even less if most people interested were waiting for streaming.
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u/MightBeDownstairs 3h ago
Yeah people want super hero slop
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u/underwooding 2h ago
i'm literally typing this while sitting in a sold-out opening weekend showing of the three-hour-long theranos documentary in a multiplex in a random suburb
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u/chickenandwaffles 3h ago
I saw this at my local theatre for $10...no saving required. Just find a better theatre...
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u/SatisfactionSad1434 6h ago
So, how does this work? Does this mean the movie will probably be available online sooner?
I was actually planning to watch it tomorrow, but I don't mind waiting and watching online if it's just a few weeks.
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u/KennyMoose32 5h ago
Idk I just saw it and felt good to see in theaters.
It’s a really good movie, marketed horribly.
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u/SatisfactionSad1434 5h ago
Yeah the marketing was awful. It felt like they centered the entire movie on the premise we're all dying to see Tom Cruise being fat and old.
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u/mafternoonshyamalan 4h ago
Marketing team thought Tropic Thunder was still super fresh in everyone’s mind.
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u/flofjenkins 5h ago
To be fair, there is literally no other way to market the movie once you know the premise.
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u/ilikepizza2much 4h ago
Lots of people have said this but I disagree. It’s got amazing sets and dramatic scenes with funny dialogue by wonderful actors. You could cut together a banging trailer with no spoilers, just based on that.
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u/flofjenkins 3h ago
The trailers did all of that (I’m pretty sure they showcase all of the play scenes). They just never gave away the actual premise of the movie.
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u/KayBeeToys 6h ago
I hope so—I’m still waiting to see Megalopolis again (it’s everything everyone has ever said about it, good and bad)
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u/SatisfactionSad1434 5h ago
Megalopolis was a mess but I appreciated it for what it was.
I prefer having conflicting opinions about a movie than thinking "it was ok, but I don't think we needed this sequel".
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u/pukeblood213 4h ago
Go ahead and downvote the shit out of me. People hate looking into mirrors. This will go down as one of the best movies ever made
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u/gentle_misanthrope 5h ago
With the way entertainment is manufactured and consumed in the US, this just tells me that it's probably really good.
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u/Bullfrog-Basic 3h ago
"probably good" seems to be the consensus of people who have already seen it
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u/d_v_p 2h ago
I saw it and liked it. Didn’t know anything about it beforehand, just knew that I liked ‘Birdman’ and the trailer made it look weird and vague. Would fight club have been a box office hit if they revealed in the trailer that Brad & Ed are the same person? Do people not like a little mystery anymore?
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u/GRADIUSIC_CYBER 5h ago
I really enjoyed the movie but I can't blame anyone that didn't bother to go see it.
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u/Clean-Shift-291 2h ago
Watched “Birdman” after seeing Digger. Also a WTF movie of similar caliber.
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u/bustacones 2h ago
I honestly wanted to go see it this weekend but it's gone from every theater in my area already (but not surprisingly).
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u/kinotravels 52m ago
I was going to go see it this weekend to judge it for myself and it wasn’t playing at AMC or Regal. (We only have these two options.)
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u/yougotthesilver12 13m ago
I feel like a lot of people will end up steaming it. There are just a couple movies I prefer in theaters over Digger but I’m definitely gonna watch it when it’s streamable and I’m sure others are too
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u/WheelsOnFire_ 3h ago
I don’t think people see how severely they are being manipulated to ‘not like’ this movie. How they are manipulated in parroting the fake criticism, how ‘bad’ it is.
To me it’s very clear and frankly….I can’t wait to see it.
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u/ConferencePurple7939 4h ago
Such a shame cuz its supposed to be an amazing movie. Just not for huge audiences or demographics
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u/dakotanorth8 5h ago
Man if they send this to streaming (like they do in similar cases of low box office like this) it could be a nice fall present:)
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u/RejectingBoredom 6h ago
Listen, Digger got the studio into this mess and Digger’s gonna dig it out again!